two tales from one party

Swarthmore's fall formal was last night. I enjoy dressing up on special occasions, especially when I get to wear my rather stylish black and white patent leather shoes that always garner positive comments. A fair number of students didn't dress up at all, but that's pretty much par for the course.

The group I went with only stayed for an hour and a half. The music just wasn't doing it for us... too much rhythm, not enough melody. The high points were definitely when a song came on that we all knew and could really get into. We were much more content coming back to the dorm and listening to the typical Swat mp3 playlist. All in all, an enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing evening.

Yet when I talked to another friend today, he raved about how great the music was. He stayed 'til the end of the party and wished it had gone on longer.

How to account for this discrepancy? Most of the music played was hip-hop; the group I was hanging out with was predominantly white. The aforementioned friend who had nothing but good things to say about the music is black.

Such a crudely racial analysis misses an even clearer point, however. It's not that my group last night doesn't like hip-hop. Swarthmore students are remarkably eclectic in their musical tastes (thank you Napster, Kazaa, et al.).

So what's the solution? Safe favorites (the classic Swarthmore example is Madonna's "Like a Prayer") are just that... safe and old. But restricting the music to a fairly small slice of contemporary hip-hop isn't the answer either. People just don't have as much fun dancing to music they don't know. As usual, I think the path to follow is that of moderation. Play some songs that'll get the majority of people excited... early Michael Jackson seems about right, then take risks after people have some energy going.